World Breaking News

By Anuradha Nagaraj CHENNAI, India, Dec 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – V arious forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 percent of south India’s spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country. Most female workers employed in the 734 mills involved in the research were aged between 14 and 18, it said, and up to 20 percent of the workers were younger than 14. It said employees were forced to work long hours by employers who often withheld their pay or locked them up in company-controlled hostels. Many also faced sexual harassment. “We have raised the issue for five years now, but even to us the scale of this problem came as a shock,” ICN Director Gerard Oonk said in a statement. K. Venkatachalam, chief advisor of the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association, said he was not aware of the research. He said the state government had recently filed a report to the Madras High Court “clearly stating that these issues are no longer prevalent in the industry”. “The matter has been closed,” Venkatachalam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “TORTURE” India is one of the world’s largest textile and garment manufacturers. The southern state of Tamil Nadu is home to some 1,600 mills,…more detail

Advertising firm Interpublic Group of Cos Inc reported a 3.1 percent rise in quarterly revenue on Friday, as businesses in the United States continued to spend more on advertising. FRANKFURT Shareholders in GfK have tendered 14.5 percent of stock in the German market researcher to private equity firm KKR, still short of a minimum threshold only hours before KKR's offer expires, a regulatory filing showed on Friday. FRANKFURT Private equity firm KKR has acquired a stake of 14.1 percent in German research firm GFK , regulatory filings show, as it seeks to fight off rival investor Michael Dell. NEW YORK…... [read more]

February 10, 2017 Rome—It all started with a coffee. When a homeless man asked Dino Impagliazzo for an espresso, the Italian pensioner thought: "Why not help?" Soon he and his wife were making sandwiches for homeless people who hung around one of Rome's train stations. As word spread, the lines for food grew longer. Eventually Impagliazzo switched to hot meals, cooking them first at home and later using the kitchen of a nearby church. "The nuns had a large pot that came in handy," he recalled. A decade on, the 86-year-old prepares hot meals for up to 250 migrants and…... [read more]

By Anuradha Nagaraj BENGALURU, India, Feb 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - New software for police could revolutionise the fight against human trafficking in northeast India and speed up cross-border investigations with Bangladesh and Myanmar, its creators said. Police in six Indian states now have access to the Impulse Case Info Centre software, which provides new ways of sharing intelligence, accessing a database of wanted traffickers and getting updates on cases. Reports of human trafficking in India rose by 25 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, with northeast states such as Assam reporting the highest number of minor…... [read more]

Children forced into prostitution by their parents to fund drug addiction and the exploitation of boys are types of child sex trafficking which are rarely recognized in the United States, said a state judge. Judge John Romero Jr., a U.S. judge and leading child trafficking expert, said there is a major misconception among Americans that boys and girls sold into prostitution are brought in from poorer countries. But all too often it is U.S.-born children who are trafficked and sold online, and identifying these victims is key to combating the widespread crime. "We've been in the mindset that this only…... [read more]

By Isaiah Esipisu TURKANA COUNTY, Kenya, Feb 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A borehole dug by herders in a desperate attempt to survive Kenya's last severe drought has been transformed into a lifeline for thousands of children and animals as a new drought hits, thanks to the addition of solar pumping and water storage. The well has become an oasis in the impoverished drylands of eastern Africa where charities say back-to-back droughts are threatening the lives of millions of children. Originally built to meet the needs of 12 herders and their families, the upgraded borehole now provides water for thousands…... [read more]

By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - C hanging her son's nappy, a wry smile flickered across Aisha's face as she recalled the power she wielded as the wife of a leading Boko Haram commander, living in the jihadists' forest stronghold in northeast Nigeria. "I had many slaves - they did everything for me," the 25-year-old said, explaining how women and girls kidnapped by the Islamist militants washed, cooked and babysat for her during the three years she spent in their base in the vast Sambisa forest. "Even the men respected me because I was…... [read more]

By Kieran Guilbert MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Almost two years after Boko Haram militants attacked his hometown in northeast Nigeria, killed his neighbors and forced his family to flee to safety, Ibrahim Usman faces a dilemma.Either he, his wife and five children stay in their makeshift shelter in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and risk starvation, or they return home to a town reduced to rubble, and the threat of further violence from the jihadists. "The situation for the displaced here is so desperate that some people will go back even if their village is not safe,…... [read more]

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The pitiful show of female candidates in India's state elections is an indictment of the failure of successive governments to enact a two-decade-old bill to give women a stronger voice in parliament, activists said.In the world's largest democracy, women hold only 12 percent of seats in the lower and upper houses of parliament combined, says the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) - just over half the global average of 23 percent. After years of lobbying by activists, a bill - which provides for one-third of the seats in national and state assemblies to…... [read more]

By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The early morning line for food at the Anjinho Feliz community center stretches down the road as the swelling ranks of Brazil's poor and homeless wait for care packages of rice, cooking oil and biscuits. The center's founder, Miriam Gomes, has been working with Brazil's homeless people for ten years. She has never seen it this bad. The country's economic crisis and the high cost of living in big cities are forcing thousands onto the street, she said. "I've seen a 70 percent increase in the number of homeless over…... [read more]